Atletico DE Rafaela v San Martin Tucuman — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Primera Nacional · Saturday, 19 September 2026. Final score 4–2 (half-time 2–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 30% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals30%70%Under
Over 3.5 goals10%90%no pick
Both teams to score39%61%No

The result model puts Atletico DE Rafaela at 39%, the draw at 35% and San Martin Tucuman at 26%, from expected goals of 0.97 and 0.73.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Primera Nacional has produced over 2.5 goals in 30% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Atletico DE Rafaela have 7 in 29 this season (4 of 14 at home), San Martin Tucuman 8 in 29 (2 of 14 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 27% and 29%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 29 and 29 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 27% and 28%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 28%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 24%, from expected goals of 0.97 for Atletico DE Rafaela and 0.73 for San Martin Tucuman. Folding in 30% of that view gives 27%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 30%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Atletico DE Rafaela2924%7%31%
San Martin Tucuman2928%7%41%

Head to head

3 May 26San Martin Tucuman 2–1 Atletico DE RafaelaO2.5
3 Jul 22Atletico DE Rafaela 1–1 San Martin TucumanU2.5

More: Atletico DE Rafaela season stats · San Martin Tucuman season stats · Primera Nacional table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.